mike: No. It's an impressions thread and you are posting your impressions. Whether or not others agree/disagree with you doesn't mean anything. You are giving your honest impressions of what you see and you're sharing them.

People will form their own opinions when they get the game. The rest is just everyone bs'ing back and forth until they get the game themselves. It happens in every thread. Don't even sweat it.

I can't tell you how many times over the years I have posted mini-essays on sports game impressions only to have someone else tell me I must be on drugs for my opinions. It's all part of the fun.

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LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

Agreed. I completely understand the concept of rating a game based on the experience that it delivers. However, I feel like we have a responsibility to still recognize that gaming is interactive entertainment and while the game may deliver great cutscenes and dialogue, we still have to demand a standard for the interactive portion of the experience.

Well, in Bioware games, the story and dialogue is often interactive and part of the actual gameplay. There are usually entire quests that are oriented around talking to people, gather facts, and making conclusions. Under those circumstances, the quality of the presentation and content of those dialogue scenes are enormously important to the gameplay itself.

I find it hilarious that there are people poised to crap on ME for gameplay, yet in "teh HALOZ" it was crapped on for poor story (even though the gameplay was excellent). "Story is King" was touted. Now we have a strong story with subjectively lacking gameplay, and we're reaching for the same toiletpaper roll.

You people? They have a word for you. Fickle. I'd turn that into an acronym, but at a glance I could see at least 2 four-letter-words dominating it.

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"If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners." - Johnny Carson

This game has made me frustrated so often, the combat is sometimes so easy as too be boring, while at times so hard as to be frustrating, the conversation is fun, though the not plot planets are nothing but mountains with objects put half the map across from each other.

Like I said, the side planets are almost a waste. Like they are there as window dressing. Makes little sense to me to have it as a selectable planet only to be able to do nothing but read 3 sentences on its ore content or something. I click on em, see you can't land, and close em. That quick. I have found that very very disappointing. And yes, the combat is a mixed bag as well. I am enjoying it more solely because of the tactical use of my squads biotics, but still the enemies are stupid zombies running straight at you til they die to virtually unstoppable Krogans.

Honestly, I give it an 8.5 (Not Game of the Year by any stretch for me personally). Good, but not great.

gameplay has of course always been very important in games,but i cant say no to a great story led game(blame FF7 for that)if it has characters that i like and get to know well,then i will stick with the game

gameplay has of course always been very important in games,but i cant say no to a great story led game(blame FF7 for that)if it has characters that i like and get to know well,then i will stick with the game

admit it, you're in it for the lesbians!

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Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay

Just to offer "another" perspective on mikeg's impressions- if someone who admittedly doesn't like or play much in the genre can still enjoy it enough to rate it an 8.5, then I feel pretty confident that I (someone who absolutely adores the genre and most of Bioware's previous games) will like it even more than that. So, if anything, Mike's impressions make me more excited for the game!

Just to offer "another" perspective on mikeg's impressions- if someone who admittedly doesn't like or play much in the genre can still enjoy it enough to rate it an 8.5, then I feel pretty confident that I (someone who absolutely adores the genre and most of Bioware's previous games) will like it even more than that. So, if anything, Mike's impressions make me more excited for the game!

Well said Kevin, my thoughts as well. The weaknesses in the combat that Mikeg and others have described remind me very much of KOTOR; a Bioware game I loved. The combat shortcomings in that game could be easily overcome if you're willing to learn the art of pausing and assigning orders, and from what I've read in this thread the same seems to be case for ME. To this day, KOTOR is still 1 of my all time favorite games.The only thing I've read that disappoints me a little is the length of the game. It sounds like this game is more along the lines of Jade Empire's 20-30 hours as opposed to KOTOR's 40-60. That being said, 20-30 hours is still a lot longer than 90% of what's currently on the market.

Well said Kevin, my thoughts as well. The weaknesses in the combat that Mikeg and others have described remind me very much of KOTOR; a Bioware game I loved. The combat shortcomings in that game could be easily overcome if you're willing to learn the art of pausing and assigning orders, and from what I've read in this thread the same seems to be case for ME. To this day, KOTOR is still 1 of my all time favorite games.The only thing I've read that disappoints me a little is the length of the game. It sounds like this game is more along the lines of Jade Empire's 20-30 hours as opposed to KOTOR's 40-60. That being said, 20-30 hours is still a lot longer than 90% of what's currently on the market.

It looks like Mass Effect is a lot more action orientated though. KOTOR's combat at a certain point was pretty dull, and easy, but the combat basically ran itself. In KOTOR, you ran into some enemies and your characters would spin a few times, and the fight was over. This happened through most of the game.

Mass Effect's battles look more like a shooter, and much more horizontally stretched out. It seems like Mass will play more like a boring shooter, where you really have to pay attention for all those dull fights. KOTOR never made you do this.

It seems like the game is being merketed as more of a shooter than an RPG. Maybe Bioware has observed the failure of most RPGs on the 360 and adjusted their gameplay accordingly.

It's JRPGs that are failing. While there haven't been a lot of Western RPGs on the system yet, one was a huge hit (Oblivion) and one did far better than it had any right to (Two Worlds). And Western RPGs generally did very well on the Xbox 1, so there is certainly a good market for them on MS consoles.

That said, no doubt Bioware is hoping that the squad combat will broaden ME's appeal in the same way that Ken Levine kept repeating "Bioshock is a shooter" over and over again.

I would argue that Oblivion was as much of an action game as an RPG. At least that is how I played it. I think Bioware would rather people not see gameplay centered around alot of pausing to give orders every time there is a battle.

I would argue that Oblivion was as much of an action game as an RPG. At least that is how I played it. I think Bioware would rather people not see gameplay centered around alot of pausing to give orders every time there is a battle.

That's how most psuedo realtime/turn-based combat RPGs work though. You can take on trash mobs fully real time using some stock AI settings and just clicking away but then you go into pause and give orders mode for the more complex encounters that require a higher degree of micromanagement.

gameplay has of course always been very important in games,but i cant say no to alien lesbians and a great story led game(blame FF7 for that)if it has characters that i like and get to know well,then i will stick with the game

Does ME actually allow you to aim the weapon yourself like an FPS. Or do you click on the target and your hit/miss is determined by stats ala KOTOR?

I haven't played the game myself, but from all of the gameplay footage I've seen, it looks almost like Resident Evil 4/Gears of War with the over-the-shoulder thing. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it looks like to me...

Does ME actually allow you to aim the weapon yourself like an FPS. Or do you click on the target and your hit/miss is determined by stats ala KOTOR?

I haven't played the game myself, but from all of the gameplay footage I've seen, it looks almost like Resident Evil 4/Gears of War with the over-the-shoulder thing. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it looks like to me...

It is over the shoulder 100 percent complete control. BUT, you can pause at anytime and tell each and every squad mate whom to attack next and HOW to do it. Then unpause and go. Or never pause and just fight.

It is over the shoulder 100 percent complete control. BUT, you can pause at anytime and tell each and every squad mate whom to attack next and HOW to do it. Then unpause and go. Or never pause and just fight.

It is over the shoulder 100 percent complete control. BUT, you can pause at anytime and tell each and every squad mate whom to attack next and HOW to do it. Then unpause and go. Or never pause and just fight.

Have you tried playing with any of the aiming assistance options? Turtle made a post earlier in the thread about varying levels of aiming help, and I'm wondering how much (if at all) they change the gameplay. The exact wording he used was "full aiming, balanced, and full assistance". Curious how those work.

Just to offer "another" perspective on mikeg's impressions- if someone who admittedly doesn't like or play much in the genre can still enjoy it enough to rate it an 8.5, then I feel pretty confident that I (someone who absolutely adores the genre and most of Bioware's previous games) will like it even more than that. So, if anything, Mike's impressions make me more excited for the game!

I agree completely with this sentiment, and your previous thoughts on story/dialog vs. combat, and the overall feel that the combat, like other Bioware games, would probably be quirky but ultimately satisfying. At this point, I should just let you speak for the both of us, but this is more fun.

Honestly, even with my complaints about combat, I couldn't really imagine owning a 360 and not owning Mass Effect. If you are a fan of the genre in general, I don't think it's even worth debating. My opinion.

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LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

Well, not only did I preorder it AND spring for overnight delivery (which I've only done for one other game that I can remember), I sprang for the Collector's Edition as well (which I've never done before). To top off my hype-induced mania, I'm taking Wednesday off from work. Stupid? Perhaps. But at least I'll be stupid in space.

I am about 75% done with the third of four major planets. And man oh man, it is definitely getting better now that my weapons are get seriously upgraded. That damn shotgun can kick some serious ass. And upgraded grenades are my friend. I just wish I had more than 3 or 4 at any given time. My squad is surviving most battles now as well.

I have found that the money you acquire is not really worth much. Have only seen 3 or three places to purchase anything and what they did have was way way too expensive for me to even look at. So, I have blown that off and forgotten all about my purse. I just upgrade my characters and weapons and play.

I just met this biotic-cult-leader-Dune-like Benegesserit-type of Bassarian bitch that is BAD ass and the beginning of that confrontation was freaking cool. First thing she did was freeze me with some biotic stasis power or something during the pre-battle cutscene and then her hot little Bassarian squadmates rushed me. That is where I paused the game and saved. Can't wait to get back in and see what happens in that scenario.

I also turned up aiming sensitivity a smidgen and turned auto aim all the way up to High, and that helped in combat situations. You might play with that early on as zeroing in on a target that never stops moving can be a chore.

Fun game. And for me to say that about an rpg is remarkable. All I ask is that they come out with a patch soon after release to fix the frame-rate skipping thingy.

Oh, and I have to give kudos to the conversation system again. It feels sooo much like two people really talking. At least as far as one where you have to give inputs can. I can't imagine it getting ANY better in gaming. If it was, it would have to be a cutscene in my opinion.

What is up with the elevator? I'm watching a live run-through the game, and they've gone into an elevator a few times where it's just 25-30 seconds of just standing there. Is that to mask loading or what?

Yep, exactly. It masks loading, they even say this in one of the interview/walkthrough videos. Not a big deal, but they should at least pop up a disc access symbol somewhere to let the player know he's not sitting watching people in an elevator for 30 seconds for no reason.

What is up with the elevator? I'm watching a live run-through the game, and they've gone into an elevator a few times where it's just 25-30 seconds of just standing there. Is that to mask loading or what?

PA blames it on the fact that the HD isn't a requirement for the 360. I'm gonna agree with them.

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"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."